Rams still hope for a long-term solution with Aaron Donald

Posted by Mike Florio on September 9, 2017, 11:55 PM EDT

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Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald is back. And, per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Rams still want to sign him to a long-term contract. And, as a practical matter, the Rams still hold the cards.

With Donald under contract for two more years and then subject to back-to-back franchise tags, he wouldn’t hit the open market for four years, until he’s on the brink of turning 30. They don’t have to give him a market-value contract, and by the time he makes it to the market he may not be a player who commands market value.

And while Donald found a way to preserve both his money and his body for 2017, he’ll continue to be at the mercy of the team’s leverage — unless and until the team decides to set its leverage aside and sign Donald to a deal worth more than it has to.

Maybe the Rams are taking a hard line after paying too much for receiver Tavon Austin and giving up too much for quarterback Jared Goff. If so, maybe they should wait for the next guy in line for a new deal to play hardball, given Donald’s value to the team.

10 responses to “Rams still hope for a long-term solution with Aaron Donald”

The Rams are a train wreck from top to bottom. You would think they would be a world beater after fleecing my Skins (Washington) with all of those draft picks. They gave Tevon Auston 4/40 and never figured out how to use him.
They canned Fisher but kept the GM.
They have their starting DT holding out, when he shouldn’t, if they were winning.
Can someone tell me what’s right about this franchise?

As a practical matter, Donald does have leverage, if he is willing to sit out. It is not feasible for the Rams to play this year without him. In my estimation, say what you will, they need him too much to simply say no.

The team should keep railroading him with a 5 year contract with terms made up before he got in the league and the fans should call him selfish then after he turns 30 with 3 years on a contract they should cut him because he is old.

They waived 1.5 million in fines, agreed to give him his game check for week 1, wouldn’t set a deadline for him to report. That’s not hardball.

The only thing they were squabbling over was the structure of his massive contract extension. For whatever reason, Donald and his representatives rejected every offer the Rams made to him. Rmor was they were offering to make him the highest paid defender in the league.

He’s still playing under his rookie contract, but from this point forward that’s his choice.

Tuitt, drafted the same year Donald, just signed his deal making $12mil/year. Biggest difference is Tuitt was drafted in the 2nd whereas Donald was drafted in the 1st, which meant an option year. I used to despise these guys holding out like Donald but the way the rookie contracts work since the new CBA really screws some of these guys.

This really doesn’t sound like hardball to me. Aaron received several perceived benefits, including having the team pay for his own personal inseason training camp while his teammates are out there trying to win games.

I really think the Rams are hurting themselves by giving him to him as much as they already have. Aaron has 2 years left and it sets bad precedent to both give in to Aaron’s demands and to give him what they already have.

Great player or not, they are causing themselves many headaches down the road. At the end of the day Aaron will sign where his agent tells him and that place will be the team that offers him the most money.

@greg3117
What’s right about the Rams organization? We have more going for us than your dumpster fire of a team.

The Redskins gave up so much for a QB that isn’t even in the league anymore. How’d that investment work out for you? Meanwhile, you have a top 15 QB who you can’t even manage to sign to a long term deal. If he bolts in free agency, it’s a major loss and you all wasted your time and money. Not to mention you all are being sued by your former GM. Dan Snyder can’t even fire someone correctly! Your team will be lucky to finish 3rd in the division and will be floundering in mediocrity for another couple of years.

How about you worry about what’s going on around the beltway and we’ll show you what a real organization looks like next week…

Trade him. He showed his true colors. Held out until the last moment where he
wouldn’t loose a paycheck. He hurt the organization, his teammates, and the fans as
they have to play a scrub today against the Colts. Win or loos today, AD thought only of himself. The train wreck that is the Ram’s will cave and sign him to a crazy contract. Can you just imagine if AD played for the Patriots and pulled this?

Finally a story that says the Rams have all the leverage instead of all those previous stories that said Donald has leverage. Since the Rams aren’t making the playoffs for at least a year or two or more, it doesn’t matter if Donald plays or not. If he want to sit two or more years, it;s on him.